I know they say that families don’t sit down together to watch television as much as they used to but there are still a few shows that can get everyone together. Autumnal Saturday evenings wouldn’t be the same without Strictly and when it comes to Sundays, well Sunday evenings are now an institution. I suppose we all know the weekend is coming to an end. Maybe we’ve managed to be a bit selfish and watch a couple of games of football in the afternoon, but I think the BBC have got their scheduling just right for Sunday evenings.
I have always hankered for the Countryfile style of life. In fact my degree in Land Economy maybe was a bit of a precursor to my interest in wildlife and agriculture. One of my most memorable moments studying for that degree wasn’t actually in Cambridge it was on a farm on Gower.
Studying for a degree in …Land Economy!!!
A family friend worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and he took me out for the day to visit some local farms. We stopped off at a farm near Penmaen and we were taken by the farmer to visit a cow in labour. By the time we entered the barn the cow was fairly far gone, and the calves front feet were already visible. We waited for a while, but it seemed everything had stopped progressing for the moment. As an aside I said to the farmer that I had never seen anything being born. With that he grabbed some rope, tied it around the protruding hoofs and pulled the calf out. I’m not sure who was more shocked me or the cow or the calf!!
Of course Countryfile isn’t all about farming which means it appeals to everyone.
The Antiques Roadshow has managed to pull together so many different types of ways of getting you involved in the show. Firstly it’s always set in some wonderful Stately Home or Grand Building which has it’s own history. It has rather unusual experts who are what my grandmother used to call ‘Characters’. It has guests who bring along their precious items who quite often also have an extraordinary story to share.
Then there is the pricing. I can’t help myself from shouting out my expert evaluation before the real experts give theirs. Then of course there is that item which far surpasses anything I or the person who brought it along to the show could have imagined and that’s possibly the best moment of all.
It was earlier this year, at the end of an Antiques Roadshow episode that they announced that they were coming to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The call went out, if you had something of interest why not get in touch with the show. It was probably later that week that I popped on their website and found the link. I put a picture of my item together with a description and forgot about it.
It was in early July I got an email from the show asking if I was still thinking of coming to the Museum on the 20th July. I said I’d love to come. On that Sunday I packed all of my memorabilia into a little suitcase and headed for town.
Now I have to say this isn’t the first time some of my memorabilia has been valued on television. Back in 1997 I was the local guide to Carol Vorderman who hosted a show called ‘Antiques Inspectors’. In this show the experts actually came to you. My job was to guide the team around Swansea whilst sharing some stories about the city. At the end of the show there was a roundup of the experts talking about what they had enjoyed valuing the most.
I was asked by the producers if there was anything I would like to show the Inspector, and this was my moment. I had a very special autograph book. Back in 1974 Radio Luxemburg were running a competition to win one of a number of autograph books. Over the previous year they had asked all of the guests who came to the station to sign their books. Tony Prince even took them to the USA where he got the autographs of people like Mae West and…Elvis Presley. The Rocket Records plugger at the time, Clive Banks, was given the books to get the signatures of Elton John and Kiki Dee. He did and gave them all back…except one which he gave to me!!!
As we sat in the downstairs bar of the No Sign Wine Bar I took out my autograph book and showed the team. There were lots of gasps of surprise as we went through the book and of course when it came to Elvis, Hilary Kay the autographs expert had no hesitation in valuing the book at around £3000. Of course I didn’t sell it and I put it away carefully. I should say more carefully than I had previously because when my eldest daughter was 3 she decided to colour in some of the pages. Thankfully she missed Elvis and Mae.
I arrived at the Waterfront Museum at around 8.30 and the whole area was already buzzing with people carrying everything from paintings to large pieces of furniture and Grandfather Clocks. It was there I was introduced to my expert Chris Yeo. Chris had been brought back from holiday in France especially for the programme in Swansea. I opened up my case with everything from that Radio Luxemburg autograph book to a signed Christmas Card from Elton John.
Chris had a good look at everything and then went off to chat to one of the producers. When he came back he explained that we would have 3-4 minutes. There was too much stuff to do justice to everything in the time we had. He would have to be selective. That’s when he took out my Elton John Christmas Card and my old battered Autograph book, not the Radio Luxemburg one.
My autograph book contained autographs I had collected myself. At the front I had footballers like Swansea’s Willie Screen and Ivor Allchurch but by the time I had started visiting London for music it started to gain some momentum. The first time I met Elton John in October 1973 he had signed it ‘Best Wishes to our Next Star’.
In the December of 1973 I was back recording in London with my big brother David acting as chaperone. On the last day of the trip we spent most of our time at the Rocket Record offices at 101 Wardour Street. That’s where Elton had given me a Christmas Card. I must have been making an impression because this time the card was ‘To our newest Superstar’ EHJ (SIR) The initials were Elton Hercules John and the Sir in brackets were a portent of things to come.
That night we went to Elton’s show at the Hammersmith Odeon before going to the after show party in Covent Garden. When Elton arrived he walked up to me and asked if I had my autograph book. I said yes and then he took me all around the room getting autographs from everyone, Bryan Ferry Micky Dolenz to Ringo Starr. At the end of our chat Chris said he thought this little collection was well worth £3000 to an Elton fan. What with that and the Radio Luxemburg book my childhood has left me quid’s in.